Impressionizm

1. Impressionism

IMPRESSIONISM

2.

• IMPRESSIONISM IS A 19TH-CENTURY ART MOVEMENT CHARACTERIZED BY
RELATIVELY SMALL, THIN, YET VISIBLE BRUSH STROKES, OPEN COMPOSITION,
EMPHASIS ON ACCURATE DEPICTION OF LIGHT IN ITS CHANGING QUALITIES
(OFTEN ACCENTUATING THE EFFECTS OF THE PASSAGE OF TIME), ORDINARY
SUBJECT MATTER, INCLUSION OF MOVEMENT AS A CRUCIAL ELEMENT OF
HUMAN PERCEPTION AND EXPERIENCE, AND UNUSUAL VISUAL ANGLES.
IMPRESSIONISM ORIGINATED WITH A GROUP OF PARIS-BASED ARTISTS WHOSE
INDEPENDENT EXHIBITIONS BROUGHT THEM TO PROMINENCE DURING THE
1870S AND 1880S.

3.

THE IMPRESSIONISTS FACED HARSH
OPPOSITION FROM THE CONVENTIONAL
ART COMMUNITY IN FRANCE. THE NAME
OF THE STYLE DERIVES FROM THE
TITLE
OF
A
CLAUDE
MONET WORK, IMPRESSION, SOLEIL
LEVANT (IMPRESSION, SUNRISE), WHICH
PROVOKED THE CRITIC LOUIS LEROY TO
COIN THE TERM IN A SATIRICAL REVIEW
PUBLISHED
IN
THE
PARISIAN
NEWSPAPER LE CHARIVARI.

4. Content and composition

CONTENT AND COMPOSITION
PRIOR TO THE IMPRESSIONISTS, OTHER PAINTERS, NOTABLY SUCH 17THCENTURY DUTCH PAINTERS AS JAN STEEN, HAD EMPHASIZED COMMON
SUBJECTS, BUT THEIR METHODS OF COMPOSITION WERE TRADITIONAL. THEY
ARRANGED THEIR COMPOSITIONS SO THAT THE MAIN SUBJECT COMMANDED
THE VIEWER'S ATTENTION. J. M. W. TURNER, WHILE AN ARTIST OF
THE ROMANTIC ERA, ANTICIPATED THE STYLE OF IMPRESSIONISM WITH HIS
ARTWORK . THE IMPRESSIONISTS RELAXED THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN SUBJECT
AND BACKGROUND SO THAT THE EFFECT OF AN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTING
OFTEN RESEMBLES A SNAPSHOT, A PART OF A LARGER REALITY CAPTURED AS
IF BY CHANCE. PHOTOGRAPHY WAS GAINING POPULARITY, AND AS CAMERAS
BECAME MORE PORTABLE, PHOTOGRAPHS BECAME MORE CANDID.
PHOTOGRAPHY INSPIRED IMPRESSIONISTS TO REPRESENT MOMENTARY
ACTION, NOT ONLY IN THE FLEETING LIGHTS OF A LANDSCAPE, BUT IN THE DAYTO-DAY LIVES OF PEOPLE.

5. Frédéric Bazille (who only posthumously participated in the Impressionist exhibitions) (1841–1870)

FRÉDÉRIC BAZILLE (WHO ONLY
POSTHUMOUSLY PARTICIPATED IN THE
IMPRESSIONIST EXHIBITIONS) (1841–1870)
PAYSAGE AU BORD DU LEZ, 1870, MINNEAPOLIS INSTITUTE
OF ART

6. Alfred Sisley (1839–1899)

ALFRED SISLEY (1839–1899)
BRIDGE AT VILLENEUVE-LA-GARENNE, 1872, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART

7. Berthe Morisot (who participated in all Impressionist exhibitions except in 1879) (1841–1895)

BERTHE MORISOT (WHO PARTICIPATED IN
ALL IMPRESSIONIST EXHIBITIONS EXCEPT IN
1879) (1841–1895)
THE CRADLE, 1872, MUSÉE D'ORSAY

8. Edgar Degas (who despised the term Impressionist) (1834–1917)

EDGAR DEGAS (WHO DESPISED THE TERM
IMPRESSIONIST) (1834–1917)
DANCER WITH A BOUQUET OF FLOWERS (STAR OF THE BALLET),
1878
Woman in the Bath, 1886, Hill–Stead Museum, Farmington,
Connecticut

9. Pierre-Auguste Renoir (who participated in Impressionist exhibitions in 1874, 1876, 1877 and 1882) (1841–1919)

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (WHO PARTICIPATED IN IMPRESSIONIST
EXHIBITIONS IN 1874, 1876, 1877 AND 1882) (1841–1919)
Portrait of Mademoiselle Irène Cahen d'Anvers (La Petite Irène),
1880, Foundation E.G. Bührle, Zürich
On the Terrace, 1881, Art Institute of Chicago

10. Claude Monet (the most prolific of the Impressionists and the one who embodies their aesthetic most obviously(1840–1926)

CLAUDE MONET (THE MOST PROLIFIC OF THE
IMPRESSIONISTS AND THE ONE WHO EMBODIES
THEIR AESTHETIC MOST OBVIOUSLY(1840–1926)
JARDIN À SAINTE-ADRESSE, 1867, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF
ART, NEW YORK
The Cliff at Étretat after the Storm, 1885, Clark Art
Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts